"The war is over! The war is over!"
Cheers exploded all around, the streets of Konoha boiling with joy.Kenichi Amemiya, however, didn't feel happy at all. To him, the crowd was just… noisy.
Still, when he thought about how the Third Great Ninja War had finally come to an end, he had to admit it wasn't all bad. At the very least, he wouldn't be thrown onto the battlefield as cannon fodder anymore.
Not that anyone would have bothered giving him orders in the first place.
That was the strange part. Konoha had suffered heavy casualties in the war. A lowly genin like Kenichi was nothing but a disposable tool. Under normal circumstances, someone like him shouldn't have survived this long.
He only had one reason for still being alive.
"The war is over, Kenichi."
A gentle voice sounded from behind him. Kenichi didn't even have to turn his head to know who it was.
One of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha.The man who would one day be known by many as "Uncle Snake."A man who had almost fallen into darkness, and yet, somehow, later managed to wash himself clean.
Orochimaru.His teacher.
"Sensei," Kenichi said, his voice still a little childish. He was, after all, only ten years old. "Now that the war is over… Lord Third is getting old. He'll have to step down soon, right?"
Despite his age, Kenichi spoke with a calm, composed tone. That maturity was something Orochimaru appreciated very much.
And that calmness came from the simple fact that there was an adult soul crammed into this small body.
He hadn't originally been called Kenichi Amemiya.On a rainy night after working overtime in his previous life, he'd suddenly blacked out. When he opened his eyes again, he'd already crossed over into this world—into the Naruto world.
He became a war orphan of Konoha and was thrown into an orphanage.
Unfortunate, right?
Even more unfortunate was that he happened to run into Orochimaru, who was secretly collecting subjects for human experimentation at the time.
Fortunately, his performance caught Orochimaru's eye.
So instead of becoming just another experiment on a cold operating table, he became Orochimaru's student.
The path between those two outcomes had been razor-thin. Even now, when he thought back on it, Kenichi felt as if he had walked on the edge of a cliff. One mistake, one wrong reaction, and he would already be dead.
Kenichi hadn't even watched all of Naruto in his previous life—he'd skipped a lot of the flashback episodes. But he'd seen analysis videos and summary clips, and he knew the rough timeline of the story.
He didn't know everything.But it was enough.
"Next time, don't be so disrespectful, Kenichi," Orochimaru said quietly. "Even if the Third is getting old, he is still the Hokage of Konoha."
His tone betrayed no obvious emotion. He didn't sound angry—and Kenichi knew exactly why.
At some point, Orochimaru had started to feel dissatisfaction toward Hiruzen Sarutobi. That dissatisfaction was still under control… for now.
Kenichi also knew that, at this point in time, Orochimaru still harbored hopes of becoming the Fourth Hokage. Once he learned that Minato Namikaze had been chosen instead…
Well, that would probably be the turning point.
"Sensei, how are the experiments going?" Kenichi asked, falling into step beside him.
He wasn't a gifted ninja. Even at ten years old, he had just barely qualified as a genin. Under Orochimaru, a talent like that was usually only worth dissecting.
The only reason he was still here was because he'd shown talent in another field—science.
In research, Kenichi could actually help Orochimaru. His strange "ideas" and "inspiration" had earned him a small, but real, place in Orochimaru's heart.
That curiosity was Kenichi's law of survival.
"Not bad," Orochimaru replied, and for once there was a hint of a smile on his face. "Although that fellow Danzo is in quite a hurry, our work has made progress. We might be able to begin live experiments soon."
He was talking about their research on the First Hokage's cells.
Orochimaru and Danzo were trying to see if they could create a child who could wield Wood Release. Kenichi couldn't remember all the details from the anime, but he did recall one thing:
They succeeded.But a lot of people died along the way.
So what?This was the kind of man Orochimaru was.And Shimura Danzo was just as terrifying.
Danzo had tried more than once to drag Kenichi into Root. Each time, Orochimaru had refused.
Later, Danzo even suggested placing the "Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal" on Kenichi's tongue.
Orochimaru refused that as well.
Because of that, Kenichi had a deep dislike of Danzo—but he hid it carefully. On the surface, he only allowed a trace of displeasure to show now and then. You could have some schemes, but too much scheming only bred suspicion.
Until he had enough strength to flip the table, Kenichi had no intention of openly opposing Danzo.
Back in Orochimaru's secret laboratory, Kenichi finally relaxed a little.
There were servants here—people who only existed to clean and to take care of Kenichi's daily needs. These pitiful souls would never leave this place.
Or rather, the day they left… would be the day they died.
Kenichi had already grown used to this kind of life. In this cruel world, power was the only thing that mattered. Whenever he thought of the absurd power levels that would appear in the future, his desire to grow stronger only burned hotter.
[Current Research Target: Hashirama Senju's Sage Body Constitution][Research Progress: 99.8%]
A translucent interface appeared in front of Kenichi's eyes—a screen only he could see.
This was the reason he had such confidence in his future.
The moment he crossed over, he'd received a cheat ability: a system that could analyze and research anything in this world—as long as he had a sample.
Once the analysis was complete, he could "replace" parts of his own body, granting himself that particular ability.
That was how an ordinary person with no talent for ninjutsu had managed to become a genin in the first place.
But that was as far as he could go. His physical talent was simply too poor; further improvement was painfully slow.
So he set his sights on something else—constitution.Or more accurately… bloodline.
Originally, his target had been the Uzumaki clan. Uzumaki Kushina, for example, seemed like a very promising sample. The Uzumaki had exceptional physical vitality.
But once Orochimaru took notice of him, Kenichi changed his plans.
Using his unique position, he obtained a sample of Hashirama Senju's cells.
The problem was that the First Hokage's body was far from ordinary. Analyzing it was incredibly difficult. It had already taken Kenichi two and a half years to reach this point.
Only now was he finally close to completion.
But the wait would be worth it.This was Hashirama's Sage Body. Once he obtained it, his natural aptitude would be completely transformed.
"Bring me my sample," Kenichi called out.
A moment later, a servant placed a test tube into his hand.
Inside was his current research subject—the Sharingan.
With the Sage Body about to be completed and the secrets of the Sharingan in his grasp…
Kenichi Amemiya smiled faintly.
In a world where monsters walked in human skin, he had finally taken his first real step toward becoming one of them.
(End of Chapter 1)